Ultratune to appeal after ‘bimbo’ train crossing ad is banned for being ‘disrespectful’ to women

A controversial ad for Ultratune showing two women dressed in short skirts and revealing tops almost getting hit by a train on a level crossing has been banned for vilifying women.

However, the car repair chain says it intends to seek an “independent review” of the decision to ban the ad from the internet and TV by the Ad Standards Board.

The ad shows two women dressed in short skirts and high heels listening to music in a convertible, before driving on to train tracks and getting stuck on the level crossing. The final shot shows the pair walking away as the train hits the car and there is an explosion.

One complaint against the ad described it as “disrespectful and degrading to women” adding “it portrays two women as sex objects”. “This may seem trivial to you as you have allowed similar ad’s [sic] in the past,” the complainant added.

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A second complaint about the TV version of the ad claims it shows women being depicted in a “bimbo” manner. “This advertisement is telling people that women are stupid and would sit in a broken down car on the train tracks and get hit instead of getting out of the car,” the complaint added.

Some complainants were offended as they had loved ones involved in a railway-related accident and that it appears to them that the women are attempting suicide.

In response to the complaints, Ultratune explained the strategy behind the ads is to encourage people to have their vehicles serviced to avoid “unexpected situations”, adding it was “designed in an exaggerated, action movie style and is not intended to be a fully realistic portrayal of real events”.

Defending the attire of the women Ultratune said it had been shot at night when “it is common for women to be in such attire”.

“The final scene was designed to emphasise the female empowerment with them confidently walking away from the vehicle without harm,” Ultratune added.

In its determination the Board agreed the women’s dress “is not inappropriate for two women going out” and that the ad was focused on their situation, not their attire or bodies.

However, in the report the board says: “The Board considered that the women are depicted as unintelligent in the way in which they sit passively, with blank faces, in the car on the train tracks and also in the way they appear to not notice the oncoming train.

“This behaviour, in the Board’s view, makes the women appear unintelligent and presents them in a stereotypical helpless female situation. In the Board’s view, the depiction of the women’s reaction to their situation is a negative depiction of women and does amount to vilification of women.”

In a note, Ultratune’s lawyers said the company would take down the ads, but noted “it intends to seek an independent review of the Board’s decision, once finalised”.

While the advertiser has pulled the ad from its own YouTube channel, the chain’s owner Sean Buckley is still showing it on his personal channel.

Alex Hayes worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017 in roles including editor and head of Mumbrella Bespoke.
He has been a journalist for more than a decade working on newspapers and websites in the UK and Australia, specialising in the media and marketing sector since 2012.

Leaving the gender stereotyping issues aside (and let’s face it, there are innumerable ‘mere male’ ads out there), it’s just a bad ad – encouraging people to get their cars serviced because they may be stranded at a level crossing is idiotic at best. The agency could have come up with better suggestions than that.

As to the female empowerment comment – well that just beggars belief. A car is stranded on a level crossing with a train bearing down. Chicks get out of the car to avoid being hit by train. Car completely totaled. Yeah. Soooo empowering.

Let’s hope the same complainants have a little whiny moment every time they see one of the many TVCs that show a man as an idiot (and often with the woman as the clichéd calm and sensible one). But they probably don’t.

At least this TVC doesn’t pretend to be anything but an analogy – i.e. don’t look after your car, suffer the consequences. The dribble affecting our TV screens depicting men doing moronic things is just as offensive, in this case to our intelligence.

Just don’t ever use ultratune. it’s the only way people get it. through hip pocket. Dumb owner. bad ad. So many things wrong here. wake up….Happy to sit with Sean Buckley to explain where this goes wrong..first and foremost messing with your key customers.

It was a bloody good ad. What’s wrong with being a sex object? It’s otherwise known as attraction between the sexes — however many there are … The ad succinctly sold the product with good fun. Have all these PC people lost their sense of humour? If your daughter is a bimbo this ad could save her life.

For those that don’t know Sean Buckley is engaged to one of the girls in the add & is the marketing genius behind this add caimpaign,Pitty he won’t listen to the public or his franchisees about how wrong these adds are

Come on ! There are two women depicted in bimbo dress, they drive into trouble they cant get out of (NB it is the blonde driving) and they don’t even know to switch out the head lights before attempting to draw hundreds of amps from a low battery by operating the starter motor.

this is, if at all, only slightly better than another of their ads which depicts the same blonde driver, foolishly engaging drive instead of reverse, and driving over a cliff!
Not to worry, they are saved at the last minute by a guy in a helicopter.

How do these mindless scenarios promote anything, let alone the advancement of women.

Bimbos can, and should be portrayed in adverts, in any form of theatrical fiction as character material, but here the women were portrayed, and in fact indicated, as women of substance who were being promoted in status by the efforts of the client/product. So long as women in general are being portrayed a idiots, then far from the whining having to stop, it should in fact intensify.

Question: Where was even one male idiot portrayed in these commercials?

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